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UK Council

UK Council meets eight times a year as well as participating in Society events.

The Presidential team consists of the President, President Elect, Vice President and Immediate Past President (also Chair of UK Council meetings).

The Presidential inauguration takes place in July each year and the Presidential term lasts for one year.

The current Presidential team are:

Gill Hodges – President

Chris Kalinka – President elect

Claire Donaldson – Vice Chair

Sue Webb – Immediate Past President

The President of the Society, currently Sue Webb, is also President of the College and is a trustee during the presidential year.

The Presidential team are also nominated CBoT Trustees nominated by UK Council.

Members of UK Council are elected from the 11 regions/countries of the UK by the regional membership.

The initial term of office is three years with the possibility of standing for re-election at the end of that term.

Current regional representatives to UK Council are:

Eastern Region - Sue Webb

London Region - Vas Nevrides

Midlands Region - Dave Pilborough

Northern Region - Sarah Burn

Northern Ireland - Cora Regan

North West Region - Thomas Welton

Scotland - Claire Donaldson
- Ross McGhee
- Sharon Stewart

South East Region - Robin Bickerton

South West Region - Tom Beaumont

Wales - Gareth Thomas
- Chris Kalinka

Yorkshire and North Trent Region - Karen Smith

In addition, there are observers to UK Council, including a patient representative drawn from the College Patient Advisory Group and the Chair of the Board of Trustees.

President
Gill Hodges

President Elect
Chris Kalinka

Chris is a DCR(R) diagnostic radiographer with more than 33 years’ service in NHS radiography in south Wales. He has served as a professional head of radiography and as a manager. Chris has a simple philosophy of “Radiographers look after people”, and that’s why he joined the NHS.

Chris is keen to engage with radiographers and members across the UK to promote the work our Society and College undertake for our patients and members. He feels our professional voice needs to be considered, evidence based and authoritative to best serve our members. We need to be visible and inspire our radiographic leaders of the future to promote our profession, whilst we provide excellent care for our patients.

She has worked in CT and MRI but the majority of Claire’s career has been spent in general radiography, a speciality of which she is a passionate advocate. She is a principle radiographer, helping to deliver the radiology service across four rural community departments. Claire has been involved with the SCoR in many roles, both in Scotland and UK-wide. She says, “I am extremely proud to be a radiographer and it is this that drives me to be a good representative on UK Council.”

Immediate Past President
Sue Webb

Before beginning her career as a radiographer, Sue had worked in a bank, had two children and then worked in a nursery school for eight years. She lost her husband to cancer and this inspired her to study to be a radiographer.

She has worked at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, since graduating, working in all fields of diagnostic radiography and now specialising in CT and colonography. Sue was elected to the SoR’s UK Council in 2013. She is passionate about raising the profile of the profession with the public.

Region and country representatives to UK Council

Vas Nevrides

After working many years in corporate hospitality, Vas started training as a diagnostic radiographer in 2009 with the assistance of the NHS bursary. He trained and worked at King's College Hospital as a rotational radiographer in plain film, cardiac, CT and angiography.

In 2013 Vas became the industrial relations rep in the department, a role he carried out until July 2018 when he was elected UK Council member for London. Vas says being a rep is a rewarding and fulfilling role.

Dave Pilborough

Sarah Burn

Thomas Welton

Qualified as a diagnostic radiographer, Tom has worked in multiple modalities including CT, MRI and projectional radiography. Currently, Tom is the lead clinical educator at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, working alongside the undergraduate radiographer programme at Cumbria University.

Tom is a certified industrial relations representative, as well as being a union learning rep, and he has successfully supported members through a range of consultations, service redesigns and improvements; work that led to him winning the SoR UK Rep of the Year award in 2018. Known for a passion to patient centred working, Tom is an advocate for radiographer professional development and AHP workforce collaborations.

She has worked in CT and MRI but the majority of Claire’s career has been spent in general radiography, a speciality of which she is a passionate advocate. She is a principle radiographer, helping to deliver the radiology service across four rural community departments. Claire has been involved with the SCoR in many roles, both in Scotland and UK-wide. She says, “I am extremely proud to be a radiographer and it is this that drives me to be a good representative on UK Council.”

Ross McGhee

Graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2009, Ross took up post at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre where he was elected health and safety representative for the Society. He is is currently a senior radiographer at the Lanarkshire Beatson satellite centre.

Ross conducted research into workplace stress and became embedded in negotiations at senior levels. This saw him elected as national health & safety representative to Scottish Council. After a three year term he took up the seat of national equality representative and he has acted as vice-chair. He is also a past chairperson of the Delegate Conference Committee and the Health & Safety Forum.

Robin Bickerton

Tom Beaumont
Tom qualified as a diagnostic radiographer from the University of Portsmouth in 2003. He manages the x-ray departments at Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals and his experience includes ultrasound and plain film reporting.

In 2009 Tom was elected by his colleagues to represent them as an industrial relations and union learning representative. He joined UK Council in 2016.

Since 2013 Tom has adjudicated for fitness to practice hearings at The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and in 2016 became the only radiographer member of the HCPC’s Registration Appeals Committee. Tom is trained in conflict resolution and mediates in workplace disputes.

Karen Smith

Qualified as a therapeutic radiographer, Karen worked as part of the senior team in Hull and was involved with the cancer survivorship agenda, recognising the challenges faced by patients living with and beyond cancer.

Currently the radiotherapy manager at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Karen is a foundation trust staff governor. For more than 30 years she has held roles with the Society in the Yorkshire and North Trent Region, as well as nationally. She was SCoR President in 2014/15 and chair of UK Council the following year.